New York, 26 October 2017. In March 2016, the then President of the United States, Barack Obama, authorized the use of the US dollar in Cuba's foreign trading operations. He also allowed American banking institutions to open offices in the island as well as other facilities, such as permitting local banks to open and maintain accounts of Cuban citizens.
To date, more than a year and a half after the announcement of these measures, the Cuban banking system continues to be the direct target of siege and persecution of its foreign financial assets, difficulties in using the US dollar normally in Cuban trading and financial transactions has persisted and it has not been possible to normalize banking relations with US entities.
The use in Cuba of credit and debit cards issued by US banks has only been allowed to three institutions thus far, in spite of having been one of the first changes issued in the regulations after 17 December 2014. Only one US institution, under a license, has been able to carry out direct operations with Cuba. There is no reciprocity for Cuban financial institutions in this context, which restricts and hinders the proper management of external resources by the Cuban banking system in its trading relations with the United States.
The extraterritorial nature of the blockade policy in the financial sector is reflected in the persecution of third-country banks and in the imposition of new fines on institutions under the justification of violating the rules of the United States Government in relation to Cuba. This has caused many banking institutions to close Cuban accounts and adopt measures that hinder and complicate the normal functioning of the banking system in the island.
During this period, despite entering into transactions in the commercial area, it became clear that it was impossible to access financial sources from both US banks and other commercial pathways, a practice commonly used in world trade.
Between April 2016 and March 2017, Cuba was affected as a result of the implementation of the blockade policy, especially due to its extraterritorial character, in more than 100 foreign banks. Compared to the same period of the previous year, the figure increased by 40 banks that gave in to the harassment policy imposed by the US blockade, which undermined the normal functioning and operation of Cuban banking institutions.
The above illustrates the closure of Cuban bank accounts in 4 banks (2 European and 2 Latin American banks); the cancellation of SWIFT messaging RMA keys to 14 entities (11 from Europe, 2 from Latin America and 1 from Oceania); the withholding of funds in 5 banks (3 in Europe, 1 in North America and 1 in Asia); the refusal to provide banking services in 19 entities (11 European, 3 Latin American, 3 Asian and 2 North American institutions); the refusal to handle and/or notify letters of credit to 36 institutions (6 in Europe and 30 in Asia); the return of banking operations in 27 entities (15 in Europe, 4 in Latin America and 8 in Asia) and the cancellation of banking operations and signed agreements in 2 European banks.
There are further cases such as the following:
Ø The United Bank of Switzerland (UBS) has rejected since 2015 all deposits made by Cuban institutions to make payments relating to Cuba´s membership to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), the UNEP´s Environmental Training Network for Latin America and the Caribbean, the Biosafety Protocol of the Convention on Biological Diversity, as well as the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions. This situation has prevented the country from fulfilling its payment commitments to these international organizations in a timely manner, which means that since 2016 Cuba is not eligible for technical cooperation projects and/or actions under the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions relating to the safe management of chemicals and hazardous waste.
Ø In January 2017, the United States Treasury Department imposed a fine on Canada's Toronto Dominion (TD) Bank for 955,750 US dollars for violating the blockade regulations. According to OFAC, this Canadian bank made transactions through the United States financial system in favor of a Canadian company owned by a Cuban company, including the financing of commercial activities also prohibited by the blockade.
Ø A Cuban bank reported that the Pan American Sanitary Bureau had been unable to transfer the proceeds from its account to a third-country banking institution, despite the existence of an OFAC General License authorizing this type of transactions.
Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations.